Fallout 3 Review
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Interface Sadly, Fallout 3 does not have a good PC interface, and it's not even close. Some of the problems are no doubt because Bethesda designed the game for consoles and then didn't bother to port it very well to the PC. That would explain why you're not allowed to name your saved games (which, coupled with not including profiles, makes running multiple games really exciting), and why the hotkeys are so limited. For example, to see your weapons you have to press the tab key, then click on the inventory tab, and then click on the weapons tab. When was the last time you played a role-playing game, and you had to click three times to see your inventory rather than just press the (I) key? I know when it was for me -- when I played Oblivion, which used the exact same crummy system.
But PC-versus-console issues aside, there are some other problems with the interface. If you play using the third-person perspective, the targeting cursor is off, and so you have to keep switching to the first-person perspective to see what you're really aiming at. Also, there is no mini-map -- probably to help with the game's (immersion) -- but I like mini-maps because they show me where I am and where I need to go. To me, the best interface is the one that gives you the most options, and so I'd like to at least be given the choice of whether or not I want a mini-map enabled. Finally, the overhead maps are often worthless. Many of the locations in Fallout 3 have multiple floors that overlap each other, and having one map for all the floors combined doesn't really help to show you where you are -- especially when the map has an incredibly low resolution and barely works even when there's only one floor. In some ways it's kind of fun that Bethesda mixed old technology with the future, but that doesn't mean that I want to view my maps on the Pip-Boy's small green screen. Please give me real maps.
Fortunately, not everything about the interface is bad. Fallout 3, like Oblivion before it, includes a fast travel feature, so once you've visited a location you can instantly return to it at any time. That's a great time-saver, especially in downtown D.C. where the debris is so thick that getting anywhere involves popping into and out of a bunch of metro stations. Also, the load, save, and transition times are all very fast, so you wont have to spend much time staring at a loading screen while you're playing the game.
Conclusion
The more I play Fallout 3, the more I consider it to be a (functional) game. It includes a big world with lots of places to explore and lots of enemies to kill, but there isn't a lot to draw you in. The main questline isn't especially involving, there aren't a lot of enemies or types of equipment, and you might hit the level cap well before the end of the game, giving you a long stretch of time where you can't improve your character at all. That is, everything about the game works, and you can spend a lot of time with it, but it isn't always exciting.
When I play a role-playing game, I always hope for interesting characters, quotable dialogue, and memorable story elements. Fallout 3 just doesn't offer these things, and, in fact, many of its story elements feel like they're warmed over retreads from the original Fallout games (like when you learn how the supermutants came into being, or when you discover who your real enemy is). However, I'd describe Oblivion in about the same way, and a whole bunch of people liked that game, so I suspect a whole bunch of people will like this game as well. Fallout 3 isn't a bad game, but it isn't a great game, either, and my guess is that it will only really appeal to the Oblivion crowd.
